Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features dust from the Sahara blowing over the North Atlantic Ocean in early June 2022. According to NASA, winds pick up an estimated 100 million tons of dust from the Sahara Desert each year. And dust – rich with iron and other minerals that plants and phytoplankton need – provides natural fertilizer for ocean ecosystems and lands downwind,” reports NASA. In winter and spring storms, Saharan dust often ends up fertilizing the nutrient-poor soils of the Amazon rainforest. Dust storms in the summer tend to loft material higher into the atmosphere, allowing plumes to travel thousands of kilometers on high-level winds.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 07, 2022 14:31 UTC